I'm back for the summer, bitches…sorry, that was a bit harsh, but regardless, let's continue with the story after what has been an incredibly long break from writing.
Lee smacked the last peg into the ground, finally setting up his and Clem's tent. He wiped the sweat from his brow and continued onto his next job. He collected a few rocks and pebbles from around him and set them up in a circle, ripping handfuls of grass from within the circle. He dusted his hands off and stood up, looking over to Christa. She was scavenging through the maze of broken-down cars surrounding the crescent shaped opening next to the long country road, on the other side, was a large several acre forest.
It was a perfect spot to camp out in, as it had clearly been used before, as there were three huge logs to be used as seats in a circle in the center of the crescent and various burn marks as well as skids and dents in the grass, faded but noticeable. Whether it had been used before the apocalypse or not what was left of the group hardly cared, they had been walking for hours prior and just wanted to eat and go to sleep.
"Any luck?" Lee asked.
"Found a few cans of food," Christa said, holding up a couple of cans in her hands. "Wait a minute…" Christa said, looking through into a high-class silver car. She reached her hand through an open window and pulled out a plastic bag with the 'Save-Lots' logo written across it.
"Anything worth taking?" Lee asked.
Christa walked back over to the camp. She passed the bag over to Lee with a smile. Lee peeked inside, there were five cans of beans and soup inside as well as a few cans of soda and a candy bar. "Well, we've got dinner for tonight," Christa said.
"Looks like it," Lee said, setting the bag of food and the other cans Christa had picked up by the fire pit Lee had constructed. Lee heard rustling leaves and twigs snapping coming from the forest. Lee quickly took the pistol from the back of his pants. It was out of ammo, but only he knew that. "Whoever's there, just turn around and turn back."
"Okay, I'll just build my own fire." Omid joked, walking into the crescent camp holding a pile of logs. Clementine followed him closely holding a few twigs and dead leaves.
"Finally, you were making me nervous," Lee said, hugging Clementine to his side.
Clem looked up to him with a smile and cuddled into him. "We were playing eye-spy." Clementine giggled.
"Yeah, it's a very distracting game," Omid said, taking the leaves and twigs off of Clementine to build up a fire. "So, are we going hungry tonight, or…?"
"The opposite actually," Christa said, passing Omid the plastic bag.
"Oh…wow…" Omid said, impressed. "Got to love Save-Lots."
After a half hour of building a fire and cooking the canned food Christa had found the group sat with a smile by the fire. Lee cuddled up with Clementine, leaning on one of the logs around the campfire, sharing a can of beans with her. "Alright, alright, I got one. Christa, remember that time we both thought there was a burglar in the house?" Omid laughed.
"Yeah, I remember…" Christa said, with a small, embarrassed laugh.
"Alright, so, I was home alone, and I heard a noise downstairs, I completely froze, then I grabbed this baseball bat I kept in my room and crept down into the living room. The step creaked on the way down but I didn't think the burglar heard it…so I held the baseball bat above my head and ran into the kitchen, there was nobody there. I went back into the hallway where the stairs were and almost smacked this burglar around the head." Omid laughed.
"Except it wasn't the burglar, it was me. I thought I was home alone and I heard a creaking noise by the stairs, so I went check it out, I almost smacked Omid around the head with a fly swatter." Christa laughed, putting her palm on her forehead.
Lee and Clem laughed, Clementine's laugh turning into a yawn. "Tired, huh?" Lee asked
"A little." Clem giggled.
"Me too, we'll leave the couple to do whatever they do. Let's go to sleep, hon'." Lee said, taking himself and Clem into the tent he had set up. He fell back onto the floor of the tent, padded slightly because of the grass, easy enough to get to sleep, as tired as he was. He and Clem quickly fell asleep.
Lee fidgeted uncomfortably all night, as he was having a terrible nightmare, about the chilling sight in the back of the car, the baby, the thought had been resting in the back of his head since it had happened. He awoke in the middle of the night. He smiled, noticing Clementine sleeping next to him, soundly. The camp was completely silent, a few crickets chirping and the wind rustling through the leaves. "Psst, hey, anyone here?" A deep voice whispered.
Lee's eyes widened, he slowly and quietly unzipped his tent and took out his pistol. He took a peek outside. There were three men: a young red-headed man in a deep green t-shirt and black cargo pants, carrying a large matte black machine gun. The other was a tall well-built bald man wearing a large Kevlar vest over a set of military fatigues, carrying a large pistol in his hands. The last was an older dark-skinned man, wearing a sleeveless gray shirt under a black leather jacket, he wore forest camouflage cargo pants and a pair of dog tags around his neck, carrying a combat knife, backward in his hands. "Hello?" The bald man said, quietly.
"Yo, anyone here?" The younger man asked, wandering closely to the door of Lee's tent. He took this as his chance, he burst out of the tent, holding his pistol up to the young man's neck.